eBay Porsche: Bargains and Disasters

I’ve had a busy week on eBay. Summer’s over, the kids are back in school so it’s the ideal time to list a few parts and end a few projects: things I’m never going to use or finish. Not including this eBay find:

I’ve got projects everywhere: a 924 Turbo and my early Porsche 944 at Racing Restorations in Worcestershire, the 911 is waiting for attention, my E36 M3 needs a few more bits to be really terrific and my daily driver Subaru & the wife’s CR-V always want something or other: latest thing is stocking up on headlamp bulbs. I bought the Turbo, the 944 and my first 911 through eBay. And the Subaru, the four more before that, and the M3. Call me an addict!

Running old cars is an endless task, and it’s difficult to imagine it without the help of eBay. It’s not the billy bargain ground it once was, but how much easier is enthusiast life when you can find two or three similar cars breaking, and email them all in one hit? My Landcruiser recently needed a steering box bit: found a guy on eBay Australia who is remaking parts better than the originals. 924 could do with a new rear screen? eBay’s the obvious start.

The fees to sell are getting high, but think about life without it! Hours spent on the phone to find something, then driving miles to save a fiver. I know eBay has killed off some of the smaller autojumbles, but really those were coffee meets: better to replace those with real coffee meets and buy the bits online.

Lots of Porsche specialists sell through eBay. My friends at Porsch-Apart have a very busy eBay Porsche parts shop, and Ferdinand will end up with a shop there too. I’ve met a stack of Porsche folks through eBay deals – half the guys on ImpactBumpers.com for starters – so it’s a good way to keep in touch with who’s building what.

I’m working on ideas for a regular eBay slot in Ferdinand, tracking the deals that get done and what happens after. Mail me at mail@ferdinandmagazine.com if you’ve got a tale to tell: would love to discuss your experiences. Must make it a bit easier for guys in far-flung corners to find bits? What were your big wins? I’ve had a few nice ones myself.

There’s an argument for a parts auction site attached to this place: something my web coder’s looking at. It’s only a goer for me if we can run a separate app for it. I don’t doubt that Ferdinand’s audience would support it and find it useful/interesting. There are multiple ways of making it happen, including an eBay link.